Boundless Fun - special playground opening nears

Several years and several hundred thousand dollars in the making, the new Boundless Playground at Rotary Park is expected to open early next month.

Accessible to children and adults of all physical abilities, the playground was built with wheelchairs in mind, incorporating wide ramps, artificial turf and other special features to make sure its swings, slides, climbing equipment and splash pad water features can be enjoyed by all.

With the major construction complete and only a few final touches left to go, Johnson City Park Services Manager John Grindstaff said the hope and anticipation is for a ribbon cutting celebration in early April.

Initiated by the Johnson City Rotary Club, the playground’s construction has been a true community project accomplished with financial support and collaboration between the club, the city, Washington County, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation and a long list of individual, private and corporate contributors.

“It’s been a fantastic project,” Grindstaff said.

Installation of decorative fencing around the playground and its splash pad will come in the next few weeks and a state inspection of all the playground amenities is scheduled for March 23.

Closed for winter, Rotary Park is scheduled to re-open on April 1. The playground’s grand opening will follow soon afterward. However, operation of the splash pad is still a few months away.

Grindstaff said the plan is for the splash pad season to run from Memorial Day to Labor Day, coinciding with the Park and Recreation Department’s Legion Street Pool and pushing its opening out to the weekend of May 27.

Expected to be a popular place among the young and the young at heart alike, the splash pad’s capacity is set at 90 people and the playground’s capacity at 200.